Vantage Point
When you look at a map it is flat, it is a 2D rendition of reality. There is no depth, there is nothing physical that you can touch. The map does not reflect the constant change of the scenery, the people, and the atmosphere that is occurring behind the scenes. The map does not show if it is raining, if it is snowing, if it is night or if it is day.
The map only gives you the location of how to get to your destination, but not to find what you are looking for. It’s like looking up at the night sky and seeing the moon and the stars but behind the darkness lies a vast unexplored universe. With little bits of falling information like stars, meteors, comets. When you look into the darkness with a high powered telescope you can see nebulas, galaxies, far away planets and milky ways.
I read something today in a book that had the wise words of Alfred Korzybski which went like this: “The map is not the territory.” This reminds us that our subjective perception and understanding (the map) can never accurately represent ultimate reality (the territory).
We can follow the map and take the directions given by someone else and still reach the destination that we intend to reach. But, along the way we miss the beauty of the scenery, the animals, the birds, the color of the sky, the type of clouds that are in the sky, the smell in the air, the faces of people that we meet along the way, the music that we listened to and the list can go on and on and on. We have gotten so used to seeing the world in 2D that we miss the beauty that surrounds us on a daily basis.
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There is so much more to life and when you start paying attention to the beauty instead of just the destination and how to get there.
I want you to look at a picture on your phone or in an album it is a moment caught in time, its still and just a memory. But when you see it as more than just a memory on your phone or in a photograph and you relive that moment. You feel the emotions in that picture. You remember how the sky looked, how the air felt, how the sun or the rain hit your skin. That is how you need to live everyday, when you hear the saying live in the present!. Those are the things you should do on a daily basis seeing the beauty, feeling the life inside of yourself, watching the freedom of the birds fly, feel the warm of the sun on your skin, the wind as it plays with your hair, pay attention to that unique laugh you hear in the coffee shop.
Being more present will pull you out of the mundane out of the repetition every day. It will make you see earth instead of seeing the world.
There is so much more to life
Instead of just living – I want you to be Alive.
Rie © 2025
Part of an excerpt included from my Instagram Post
